Transducers such as receivers and speakers are useful in many listening devices such as earphones, headphones, Bluetooth wireless headsets, or the like. For instance, a receiver may convert electrical energy received from an audio signal device into acoustic energy and subsequently present the acoustic energy to the eardrum of the user for listening.
General speaking, conventional insert earphones are designed to isolate the desired sound presented at the user's ear drum from other sounds and/or noise from the outside environment. In this regard, previous insert earphones typically include a housing having a wide, rigid sound passage tube and a receiver mounted within the housing. A rigid eartip attached around the sound passage tube may be located externally to the housing. When the sound passage tube attached to the housing is inserted into the ear canal of the user, airborne sound moves through the eartip. The eartip engages the walls of the ear canal. In these systems, the receiver within the housing is positioned near the entrance to the ear canal to receive the sound energy.
Unfortunately, several problems exist with these previous approaches. For instance, achieving an airtight or otherwise adequate seal in the ear canal is often difficult or impossible. This leads to undesirable sounds (e.g., background noise) entering the ear canal and desirable sounds (e.g., music from an attached listening device) escaping from the ear canal. In addition, these previous devices frequently cause considerable discomfort when worn by the user, due to the hardness of the tube and shape of the eartip. Custom molded earphones have also been attempted, but the manufacture and assembly of these custom molded devices is expensive and labor intensive.
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